WILMINGTON, North Carolina - Jeff Hoffman struck out a career-high seven over 6 1/3 shutout innings as East Carolina blanked UNCW, 5-0, on Tuesday at Brooks Field.

The Pirates improved to 20-8 with the road win while the Seahawks had a seven-game home winning streak snapped and dropped to 15-13.

Hoffman (1-0) scattered five hits and two walks in picking up his first win of the season while lowering his ERA to 1.95.

Tanner Merritt earned his fifth save.

The Pirates threatened in the first and second innings before finally breaking through against losing pitcher Travis Bradley (0-1) in the third for three runs. Jay Cannon doubled in the first two runs of the inning and Ben Fultz singled in the final run off reliever Jack Lane. Cannon would finish with three runs batted in.

UNCW had opportunities throughout the night, but couldn't break through. The Seahawks stranded 10 runners on base and went 0-10 in RBI opportunities.

The Pirates added two runs in the ninth on a hit batter and a bases-loaded walk to Zack Wright.

Drew Reynolds and Corey Thompson both finished with two hits and scored two runs.

Hunter Ridge and Drew Farber collected two hits apiece for UNCW.

Both teams combined to go 2-for-19 with two outs at the plate.

Seahawk reliever Ricky Holden tossed 4 1/3 shutout innings in relief, extending his shutout streak to 15 innings dating back to March 10 against James Madison.